ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - A Georgia lawmaker wants to pull the plug on school zone speed detection cameras indefinitely.

State Rep. Dale Washburn (R-Macon) filed a bill Monday to ban the technology after receiving an overwhelming number of complaints from constituents for more than a year who claim they were ticketed without warning or outside the times when school is in session.

Washburn said more than 90 lawmakers co-signed the bill. “It is wrong; it is entrapment,” he said. “You will not believe how many people we have heard from since I announced I was going to file this bill.”

Washburn said the series of Atlanta News First investigations, Taxation Through Citation, helped him better understand the scope of the problems associated with the cameras. The series uncovered multiple Georgia cities incorrectly ticketed drivers hundreds of thousands of dollars while padding their budgets from the camera revenue.

Public records from 54 Georgia municipalities reveal the cameras generated at least $112 million in revenue from at least 2019 to May 2024.

That amount does not include the revenue collected from the camera operators.

Since the Georgia legislature passed a law giving municipalities authority to use the cameras, police departments jumped at opportunity install them. In 2019, the Georgia Department of Transportation approved 39 camera permits. By 2024, there were 290 approved permits.

The tickets are civil penalties; they don’t impact drivers’ licenses, but if left unpaid, drivers can’t renew their Georgia vehicle registrations. According to the Georgia Department of Revenue in September, that happened to 133,000 people.

“We believe that it is a statewide issue. Your reporting helped me understand a lot of that,” Washburn said. “One of the worst parts of this to me is they hide behind the excuse of children’s safety while they’re raking in tons of revenue.”

The Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police said the cameras change drivers’ behavior and make the community safer.

“There’s value to these systems if they are working correctly; the technology is not biased,” said A.A. “Butch” Ayers, the association’s executive director. “Eliminating the cameras is like throwing the baby out with the bathwater.”

South Fulton Police Chief Keith Meadows advocated for the cameras in his city after he said several residents complained about speeding in school zones. He pointed to a traffic study showing since the cameras were installed in 2019, the number of speeding vehicles in school zones dropped more than 90 percent.

“At the end of the day, we believe that it’s resulted in our school zones being a much safer place,” Meadows said. Last year, Atlanta News First Investigates uncovered South Fulton collected more revenue from camera citations than any other municipality in the state, $21 million.

The city contracts with Blue Line Solutions to operate its cameras. Its contract shows the company receives 35 percent from each ticket. According to that math, the city collected $14 million while the camera operator collected $7 million. Blue Line Solutions did not respond to interviews about the Atlanta News First Investigates analysis, but it did not respond.

The proposed legislation is welcome news for drivers like Gary Klingman who feel they were unfairly ticketed by the cameras. In April 2024, the retired teacher received a ticket while driving through the city of Tallulah Falls.

At the time of his citation, warning lights intended to notify drivers the cameras were on, were not flashing. “They don’t want people to slow down going through school zones. They want them to speed through school zones, because then they can ticket them and charge,” Klingman said. “It’s just not fair.”

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